Addressing 18,000 attendees at the 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer said Sunday he believes Israel continues to have strong bipartisan support in the United States.
He said supporting both America and Israel was "supporting two of the greatest forces for good" in the world.
"Israel will be the most important ally for the United States in the 21st century. I am supremely confident of that," Dermer said.
Dermer's comments come on the eve of what is set to be a historic announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump when he officially recognizes Israeli sovereignty of the Golan Heights.
"It has taken us 51 years to achieve just as great an accomplishment, a diplomatic victory," he said.
"The people of Israel are very grateful to President Trump," for the recognition, he said, which "sends a strong message to the enemies of Israel and the people of Israel that America stands with Israel."
Yet, he noted, Trump's decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights was not the most important decision he had made regarding Israel.
"The most critical decision that President Trump has made was to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reintroduce sanctions against Iran," Dermer said.
Without mentioning former U.S. President Barack Obama by name, Dermer slammed the Iran nuclear deal.
"The wrong path was to sign that nuclear deal. That deal does not block Iran's path to nuclear weapons. It made Iran more dangerous. It made war more likely," Dermer said, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public objection to the Iran deal from the floor of the U.S. Congress was one of his "proudest days" as Israel's ambassador.
Dermer noted that Trump's withdrawal from the deal did not mean the agreement was dead.
"There are still parties to the deal. That deal is still alive. There are those calling for returning to the deal."
Dermer said that more work needed to be done to end the deal.
"What has to happen is what happened in Warsaw, when [U.S.] Vice President Mike Pence called for European nations to withdraw from the deal. What has to happen is the Iran deal needs to go into the dustbin of history," Dermer said.
Dermer also suggested that Israeli opposition to the deal has helped it improve its relations with its Arab neighbors, in what he called "a silver lining in a very dark cloud."
"Today, many Arab nations see Israel as an ally," Dermer stated.
"Arab nations want to see the end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. I don't think that was the case 15 years ago," he said.
Addressing growing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks to isolate Israel internationally over the Palestinian issue, Dermer said that boycotting Israel was "sort of like Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and half of California boycotting Silicon Valley," a reference to Israel's technological achievements.
Dermer said supporters of BDS should start to worry they themselves could become the target of a boycott. "BDS is a moral attack and we need to fight it on moral terms," he said.
With the Trump administration set to present its so-called "deal of the century" for Middle East peace in the coming weeks, Dermer noted, "In Ramallah [there] is a government that pays Palestinian terrorists to terrorize Jews. Until the Palestinians abandon the idea that they are going to destroy Israel, there will not be a chance for peace."
